New Company Mustang Therapeutics Formed by Coronado Biosciences, City of Hope
March 19, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
NEW YORK -- Mustang Therapeutics, Inc., a company newly formed by Coronado Biosciences and in partnership with City of Hope, will focus on preclinical and clinical of proprietary Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR-T) technology, Coronado announced Thursday.
Mustang Therapeutics is a development stage oncology company newly formed in partnership with the City of Hope in Duarte, Calif. City of Hope is a leading research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases.
Mustang’s CAR-T cell development deal is valued at $40 million with upfront and milestone payments. Company officials anticipate the first two CAR-T cells from this partnership will begin enrollment in human clinical trials at the City of Hope this year. The portfolio of CAR-T cells were developed by T cell Therapeutics Research Laboratory. Chimeric Antigen Receptor technology directs T cells to recognize cancer cells based on expression of specific cell surface proteins.
“The development of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells for serious, refractory cancers is a burgeoning field of oncology. The engineering of patients' immune cells to treat cancers may have a dramatic effect in cancer therapy,” said Coronado Biosciences CEO Lindsay Rosenwald.
George Megaw, director of technology licensing for City of Hope, said they have been impressed with Coronado’s ability to “design and execute clinical trials in important medical conditions in a timely and expeditious manner.” He said the formation of Mustang Therapeutics will allow the partnership to “offer novel and effective therapies to cancer patients.”
Earlier this month Coronado Biosciences formed Checkpoint Therapeutics, Inc., a new subsidiary to develop a portfolio of fully human immuno-oncology targeted antibodies generated in the laboratory. The portfolio of antibodies licensed from Dana-Farber Includes antibodies targeting PD-L1, GITR and CAIX. Checkpoint plans to develop these novel immuno-oncology and checkpoint inhibitor antibodies on their own and in combination with each other, according to a company statement. Coronado Biosciences is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to acquiring, developing and commercializing novel pharmaceutical and biotechnology products.
Coronado also inked a deal with China-based NeuPharma to develop and commercialize irreversible, third generation EGFR inhibitors to target Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) carrying specific EGFR mutation. The amount of the deal was undisclosed, The program is currently in preclinical development.
Rosenwald said Coronado’s subsidiary development move is an effort to increase therapy treatments for various medical problems, including dermatology, postoperative pain, and immuno-oncology.
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